Socialist Party MEP, Paul Murphy, is currently visiting Gaza as part of a delegation of parliamentarians, to see the conditions first hand. Paul will be keeping a diary of the events and reflections, and you can read them on his blog. Here we post his report from the first day there.

In scrambling to avoid a break-up of the eurozone, the approach of the elites in Europe has been characterised by two common themes – austerity programmes to make the working class pay, and a further diminishing of democracy to facilitate the implementation of that austerity.

Dublin MEP Paul Murphy was part of a Socialist Party contingent on a peaceful protest organised by the community in Rossport and the Shell to Sea campaign today. At that protest he, and the other peaceful protesters were brutally assaulted by the Gardai. Here Paul Murphy reports on what happened.

Paul Murphy, Socialist Party MEP for Dublin will shortly attempt to sail to Gaza as part of the ‘Freedom Flotilla II’ to try to deliver humanitarian aid to people in the Gaza strip. Last year’s ‘Freedom Flotilla I’ was brutally attacked in international waters by the Israeli Defence Forces, with 9 human rights activists killed. Here is an interview with Paul about the Flotilla and the situation in the Middle East.

For latest updates and photos from the Irish Ship to Gaza from Paul, as well as blog posts and analysis, check out the special feature on Paul's website available at www.paulmurphymep.eu/gaza

The premise of Fine Gael and Labour’s Programme for Government is that there is no alternative to continuing the austerity policies of Fianna Fail. socialistparty.net questions this assertion and argues for socialist policies to redevelop the economy.

Wages have been slashed, unemployment has exploded and our public services have been cut savagely as the economic crisis developed in Ireland. All of this is the result of the policies of the right-wing government and the actions of a small group of speculators, bankers and developers. Here Paul Murphy outlines the socialist alternative.

WE ALL have to share the pain” has become the mantra of the entire establishment, from right-wing economists and political parties to much of the trade union leadership, as working class people are made to suffer to protect the profits and power of the bosses. This article critiques this orthodoxy and argues that socialist policies offer the only alternative to the vicious attacks of capitalism.